Starting Anew
by amaranthined
Summary: In the City of Love, anything can happen, including second chances. And maybe that's all they needed. /DominiqueLuke, for Alice.


**A/N:** Welp, hi guys. This is a piece I've been working on for about three months because writer's block is annoying. I'd give you more excuses to why I haven't written things, but it's really just writer's block. I have a few more things on the way, I hope!

**Dedication:** Alice (watching stiricide), this is for your birthday. It's super late, I know, and I'm so, so sorry for that. I hope it's not too bad and you enjoy it. :)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own HP or PJO.

* * *

Dominique is tired of it all.

She's tired of oh-so-perfect Victoire and oh-so-her perfect married life, tired of Louis being the youngest and almost everything he would want, tired of being constantly compared to her siblings and being looked down on as the "trouble child."

"Oh, Dom, when will you get your act together?"

"Are you ever going to be serious about something?"

"It's just a phase; she'll grow out of it."

Every day that's what she hears. Every. Single. Day.

Sometimes she thinks it would be better if she left.

(No one would have to worry or think about her anymore.)

So she does.

/

She doesn't know where she's going or what she's going to do, she just knows she needs to get away and she needs to get away fast. With some galleons in her bag and a suitcase behind her, she apparates to Paris, because that's the only place she could think of that she would actually have a decent chance of doing something. If anything, at least it's away from Shell Cottage and the Burrow and her family. And she can actually understand the people there, unlike if she apparated to Spain or something.

/

The first time she takes step in Paris, her breath is taken away. It's a gorgeous city, with its buildings and shops and people. The exhilaration of being free and maybe just a bit hopeful only adds to the beauty.

But slowly, as she settles into the city, that thrill starts to fade away. She has an apartment, a job at a café and now she's just trying to survive in this crazy, mixed-up world she was thrown into.

/

She runs into this guy – blond hair, tall, blue eyes – one day after her shift.

"Watch it!" she snaps, pushing past him, not in the mood for cocky guys who think they can get a date.

(He's anything but that, he's running away, just like her, thrown into this crazy, mixed-up world.)

/

He blinks and shakes his head, intrigued by this strawberry-blonde girl who isn't a demigod, but something powerful all the same. Her attitude reminds him of Thalia, a girl he used to know a long time ago but slipped through his fingers oh-so-easily.

There are no second chances, not with her.

That's why he came to Paris – the City of Lights – New York City held too many (painful) memories.

(Maybe this girl from the café is the light he's been looking for.)

/

Dominique's surprised, annoyed, and maybe just a little bit happy when he shows up the next day, again.

"It's you again." Her tone is flat, unamused.

"Yeah, it is." He shrugs, smirking at her. "I'm Luke, and you are?"

"Dominique," she replies curtly, though she can't help but think that his smirk looks good on him. It reminds her a bit of Scorpius, but there are nosecond chances with him, especially when there's Rose now – probably Rose Malfoy by now.

She pushes that thought out of her head, she hasn't thought about her family in ages, why start now?

/

They go out on a date after that – well, not right after that, Dominique was rather guarded at first but Luke eventually persuaded her to give him one chance – and that's how it all begins.

Luke isn't Scorpius and Dominique isn't Thalia but that's okay with them and soon they forget about Scorpius and Thalia and their past and it's just _them_.

(Maybe all they needed was a second chance.)

/

Dominique wasn't looking for love.

But when one lives in the City of Love, as cliche as that sounds (and she's never been one for cliches, which is a cliche in itself), it's almost inevitable one would find it.

And it's sort of magical.

* * *

Thanks for reading, please review! (:


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